Alliance 'Filibuster' demands gun vote

Nanci G. Hutson

Updated 10:47 pm, Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Newtown Action Alliance member Monte Frank speaks at the "Filibuster the Filibuster" demonstration outside of Edmond Town Hall in Newtown, Conn. on Wednesday, April 10, 2013. About a dozen people gathered to send a message to senators that an attempt to stop the gun reform vote is unacceptable. The group assembled at noon on Wednesday and plans to stay, reading off the names of more than 3,300 victims of gun violence since the Sandy Hook shooting, until the vote on Thursday.
Photo: Tyler Sizemore

Noelle D'Agostino, left, of Newtown, and Anna Duleep, of Norwalk, hold signs at the Newtown Action Alliance "Filibuster the Filibuster" demonstration outside of Edmond Town Hall in Newtown, Conn. on Wednesday, April 10, 2013. About a dozen people gathered to send a message to Senators that an attempt to stop the gun reform vote is unacceptable. The group assembled at noon on Wednesday and plans to stay, reading off the names of more than 3,300 victims of gun violence since the Sandy Hook shooting, until the vote on Thursday.
Photo: Tyler Sizemore

Larry Thompson, of Sandy Hook, holds a sign at the Newtown Action Alliance "Filibuster the Filibuster" demonstration outside of Edmond Town Hall in Newtown, Conn. on Wednesday, April 10, 2013. About a dozen people gathered to send a message to senators that an attempt to stop the gun reform vote is unacceptable. The group assembled at noon on Wednesday and plans to stay, reading off the names of more than 3,300 victims of gun violence since the Sandy Hook shooting, until the vote on Thursday.
Photo: Tyler Sizemore

Larry Thompson, of Sandy Hook, holds a sign at the Newtown Action Alliance "Filibuster the Filibuster" demonstration outside of Edmond Town Hall in Newtown, Conn. on Wednesday, April 10, 2013. About a dozen people gathered to send a message to senators that an attempt to stop the gun reform vote is unacceptable. The group assembled at noon on Wednesday and plans to stay, reading off the names of more than 3,300 victims of gun violence since the Sandy Hook shooting, until the vote on Thursday.
Photo: Tyler Sizemore

Po Murray, vice chair of the Newtown Action Alliance, speaks at the "Filibuster the Filibuster" demonstration outside of Edmond Town Hall in Newtown, Conn. on Wednesday, April 10, 2013. About a dozen people gathered to send a message to senators that an attempt to stop the gun reform vote is unacceptable. The group assembled at noon on Wednesday and plans to stay, reading off the names of more than 3,300 victims of gun violence since the Sandy Hook shooting, until the vote on Thursday.
Photo: Tyler Sizemore

Jessica Pinkney, of Newtown, gets emotional upon hearing the names of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting at the Newtown Action Alliance "Filibuster the Filibuster" demonstration outside of Edmond Town Hall in Newtown, Conn. on Wednesday, April 10, 2013. About a dozen people gathered to send a message to senators that an attempt to stop the gun reform vote is unacceptable. The group assembled at noon on Wednesday and plans to stay, reading off the names of more than 3,300 victims of gun violence since the Sandy Hook shooting, until the vote on Thursday.
Photo: Tyler Sizemore

A member of Newtown Action Alliance reads names of victims of gun violence from a large stack of papers at the "Filibuster the Filibuster" demonstration outside of Edmond Town Hall in Newtown, Conn. on Wednesday, April 10, 2013. About a dozen people gathered to send a message to senators that an attempt to stop the gun reform vote is unacceptable. The group assembled at noon on Wednesday and plans to stay, reading off the names of more than 3,300 victims of gun violence since the Sandy Hook shooting, until the vote on Thursday.
Photo: Tyler Sizemore

Newtown Action Alliance member Monte Frank speaks at the "Filibuster the Filibuster" demonstration outside of Edmond Town Hall in Newtown, Conn. on Wednesday, April 10, 2013. About a dozen people gathered to send a message to senators that an attempt to stop the gun reform vote is unacceptable. The group assembled at noon on Wednesday and plans to stay, reading off the names of more than 3,300 victims of gun violence since the Sandy Hook shooting, until the vote on Thursday.
Photo: Tyler Sizemore

Cheryl Sayles, of Milford, wears a "We demand change now" sticker at the Newtown Action Alliance "Filibuster the Filibuster" demonstration outside of Edmond Town Hall in Newtown, Conn. on Wednesday, April 10, 2013. About a dozen people gathered to send a message to senators that an attempt to stop the gun reform vote is unacceptable. The group assembled at noon on Wednesday and plans to stay, reading off the names of more than 3,300 victims of gun violence since the Sandy Hook shooting, until the vote on Thursday.
Photo: Tyler Sizemore

Newtown Action Alliance member Monte Frank speaks at the "Filibuster the Filibuster" demonstration outside of Edmond Town Hall in Newtown, Conn. on Wednesday, April 10, 2013. About a dozen people gathered to send a message to senators that an attempt to stop the gun reform vote is unacceptable. The group assembled at noon on Wednesday and plans to stay, reading off the names of more than 3,300 victims of gun violence since the Sandy Hook shooting, until the vote on Thursday.
Photo: Tyler Sizemore

NEWTOWN -- Chasing her red-haired 2-year-old around the front lawn of the Edmond Town Hall on Wednesday afternoon, Sandy Hook mother Jennifer Pinkney made it clear that she wants to protect her son and other children from the gun violence that ended the lives of 20 first-graders and six educators in their elementary school.

That is why she opted to join a small cadre of residents who attended the Newtown Action Alliance "Filibuster the Filibuster" event on the Main Street landmark's front steps Wednesday. Pinkney was also signed up to read for an hour from the names of 3,345 victims of gun violence since the Dec. 14 mass shooting in Newtown.

At the very least, Pinkney said, the U.S. Senate owes these families a vote on what the alliance called "common-sense" gun legislation, such things as universal background checks, a limit on ammunition capacity and a ban on assault weapons.

Pinkney said she is disheartened with the politics overriding "empathy and compassion."

"Sad," she said.

Sandy Hook Elementary School parent Kristin Larson said she feels differently about a debate and vote on federal legislation that "would have made such a difference" on the morning of Dec. 14, when 154 bullets were fired into that school's lobby and classrooms.

Larson came to "Filibuster the Filibuster," she said, to "honor their memory."

With noon traffic buzzing by, alliance members said they stand with those around the country who are demanding their lawmakers in Washington stand up against power politics. Supporters held signs, including one with an image of a broken heart that read, "Enough -- Broken Laws, Broken Hearts.''

Alliance Vice Chairwoman Po Murray said she and her fellow gun-legislation proponents across the nation are outraged that 14 senators might try to squelch the debate and block a vote. She said this fight is a "marathon'' that will go on as long as it takes.

"Newtown deserves nothing less," Murray said.

Fellow alliance leader Monte Frank, who started the "Filibuster" by reading of the names of each of the Sandy Hook shooting victims -- some who were his neighbors or his children's teachers -- said this was a day in which America would find out who among their lawmakers "puts politics ahead of public safety, of our children."